Manchester City assistant boss David Platt believes David Silva's brace in the champions' comfortable 2-0 win over Fulham on Saturday was just reward for his recent form.

Silva opened the scoring for City after just two minutes before doubling his tally and sealing the match for the hosts in the 69th minute.

The Spaniard hadn't scored in the Premier League since November and Platt is confident Silva is playing some of his best football in a free attacking role.

"Last year he had a few more goals under his belt but we know how important he is whether he is scoring goals or not," Platt said. "I think his performances have been right up there. I think it would be harsh to say it has been lacking.

"He is in the team for all sorts of different reasons, not just his goalscoring ability. I think his performances of late have deserved goals. I am pleased he got the two and he should have had a third.'"

Platt insists City are capable of capitalising on what he feels will be an inevitable slip up from Manchester United, although he admitted the match should have been sealed before half-time.
"We scored after 90 seconds and you think that should settle us," Platt added. "But we didn't really get going at full throttle in the first half. In the second half we were better.

"We have got 15 [games] left. Both teams will drop points, I am sure. We have got to make sure we keep getting victories so if United slip up we are in a position to take advantage of that.''

Edin Dzeko was rewarded for his positive run of form this season with a full game for City and he was happy to hand the scoring honours over to Silva.

"We have to just keep doing what we're doing," Dzeko said. "I think Manchester United will drop points sooner or later and I'll be watching tomorrow hoping Tottenham can maybe do us a favour but more importantly, we just need to keep winning and keep the pressure on them.

"David took his goals really well and he is disappointed he didn't maybe get a third, but I'm really pleased for him and that the team won. We are a bit disappointed we didn't score more goals after taking the lead so early in the game and I think if we'd scored again in the first-half we'd have gone on and won by more but sometimes it doesn't pan out like that.
"We got the second at a good time so we have to be happy. I'm disappointed I didn't score, but I think I played ok but as long as we keep winning, I'm happy."

Fulham struggled to threaten Joe Hart in the City goal, but their patient build-up impressed manager Martin Jol. "You are fearful - we were very concerned because if you concede a goal after one-and-a-half minutes, you really fear for a bad game, a bad afternoon," Jol said. "But it wasn't, we did okay. If you consider they scored the second goal in the 69th minute, we could have hurt them.

"In the first half they had a shot from Dzeko over the bar and a shot from [Carlos] Tevez but that was probably it. I felt we could have done a bit more and scored the equaliser. But if you have got Silva - he has extra quality, probably the best player in the Premier League. He was fantastic but overall I felt we did okay.''